The Higher Education Commission (HEC)'s Chairman Dr Mukhtar Ahmad has said that with a view to create a research culture in the country, an amount of Rs 3 billion has been allocated for funding of research projects in the universities. He was speaking at the 1st National SME Conference organised by the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA) in collaboration with the University of Management Technology (UMT) here on Wednesday.
SMEDA General Manger Outreach Division, Muhammad Alamgir Chaudhry, UMT Rector Professor Dr Hassan Sohaib Murad, Association of Management Development Institutions Pakistan (AMDIP) Chairman Dr Shahid Amjad Chaudhry and Member Planning Commission Faheemul Islam also spoke on the occasion.
Dr Mukhtar Ahmad urged the SME stakeholders to work in close cohesion, as no goal can be achieved while working in isolation. However, the productive collaboration should be based upon sold research, which is rare so far in the country, he added.
The global think tanks were playing a critical role in highlighting issues and proposing recommendations to develop hassle free business environment through research, he said. But, in Pakistan, a culture of research has yet to gain the significance, he maintained.
The Commission started with 59 universities to promote higher studies and research in the country while the number has now gone up to 179 universities, which are bringing out 800 research publications and 12000 journals in the country. However, he emphasised to conduct research projects able to leave development impact on the society.
Regarding the SME sector, the Commission Chairman said that the SMEs in Pakistan were about 40 years behind the world. Research should also be made on technological up-gradation of SMEs in Pakistan. To fill in this gap, NUST was going to set up two Technology Parks in Pakistan with the support of China. Similarly three research centers were being set up to conduct research on Energy, Water and Food Security, he added.
Earlier, Muhammad Alamgir Chaudhry said the conference is a milestone in SME development as it has brought together SME stakeholders on a common forum. The objective of the conference is to strengthen SME led sustainable economic growth through SME focused research, in order to secure the attention of policy makers and to develop an environment where new enterprises flourish, he added.
He assured to make the National SME Conference an annual event and announced to hold the next Conference in March 2017.
Professor Dr Hasan Sohaib Murad said that the economic development in Pakistan needed a research culture integrated with the business and industry. He assured to link up the research to be conducted by his students with potential sector of economy like SME.
He was confident that UMT and SMEDA partnership would pave way for developing a need-based research culture and hoped that both the institutions collaboration would set an example of industry academia and private-public partnership for economic development of the country.
Dr Shahid Amjad Chaudhry assured of his fullest support to encourage all of the management development Institutions to join SMEDA as active partners to make the SME development dream true in Pakistan.
While speaking as chief guest, Faheemul Islam said that it was encouraging for the government to see the private sector, academia and international development organisations participating at a single platform-here at the 1st SME conference. This collaboration has helped resolve several problems faced by SMEs and given valuable insight for both the policy makers and the stakeholders, he said and hoped that the papers that had been shared in the conference would assist the government in designing policies that support the creation of a robust and best practised SME ecosystem.
Representatives from the Ministry of Industries and Production, Planning Commission of Pakistan, Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan, State Bank, Private Banks, International Development Agencies (World Bank, Japan International Cooperation Association, Karaandaz), private sector companies and many reputable universities of Pakistan attended the conference.